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Wild bears, real bears and zoo bears: Authenticity and nature in Anthropocene tourism
Within nature-based tourism research, authenticity has received a great deal of attention in relation to existential authenticity and in examining the authenticity of experiences. Yet very little research exists that explores the ways in which tourists perceive wildlife as more or less authentic, as...
Autores principales: | , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
SAGE Publications
2022
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9684654/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36440384 http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/14687976221131894 |
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author | Bueddefeld, Jill NH Erickson, Bruce |
author_facet | Bueddefeld, Jill NH Erickson, Bruce |
author_sort | Bueddefeld, Jill NH |
collection | PubMed |
description | Within nature-based tourism research, authenticity has received a great deal of attention in relation to existential authenticity and in examining the authenticity of experiences. Yet very little research exists that explores the ways in which tourists perceive wildlife as more or less authentic, as objects in nature-based tourism discourses. This qualitative case study research explores visitors’ perspectives in relation to polar bear tourism in Churchill, Manitoba (in situ) and at the Assiniboine Park Zoo’s ‘Journey to Churchill’ exhibit (ex situ) in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The ‘Journey to Churchill’ exhibit was built with the intention of representing aspects of the landscape, wildlife and town-site found in and around Churchill, Manitoba. These two sites provide a unique opportunity to compare in situ and ex situ nature-based tourism experiences, since the sites have similar elements such as wildlife species, landscape features and other contextual factors (such as environmental issues and cultural influence). The findings from this research suggests that perceived authenticity of the polar bears, more than the experience, contributes to the construction of learning experiences about climate change. We review the work of authenticity in nature-based tourism and suggest a rethinking of the work of authenticity for both educators and operators in nature tourism. This research has important implications for better understanding how visitors construct their perceptions of authenticity of wildlife and the implications for the ways in which wildlife tourism experiences and authenticity narratives are constructed in Anthropocene tourism. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-9684654 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2022 |
publisher | SAGE Publications |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-96846542022-11-25 Wild bears, real bears and zoo bears: Authenticity and nature in Anthropocene tourism Bueddefeld, Jill NH Erickson, Bruce Tour Stud Articles Within nature-based tourism research, authenticity has received a great deal of attention in relation to existential authenticity and in examining the authenticity of experiences. Yet very little research exists that explores the ways in which tourists perceive wildlife as more or less authentic, as objects in nature-based tourism discourses. This qualitative case study research explores visitors’ perspectives in relation to polar bear tourism in Churchill, Manitoba (in situ) and at the Assiniboine Park Zoo’s ‘Journey to Churchill’ exhibit (ex situ) in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The ‘Journey to Churchill’ exhibit was built with the intention of representing aspects of the landscape, wildlife and town-site found in and around Churchill, Manitoba. These two sites provide a unique opportunity to compare in situ and ex situ nature-based tourism experiences, since the sites have similar elements such as wildlife species, landscape features and other contextual factors (such as environmental issues and cultural influence). The findings from this research suggests that perceived authenticity of the polar bears, more than the experience, contributes to the construction of learning experiences about climate change. We review the work of authenticity in nature-based tourism and suggest a rethinking of the work of authenticity for both educators and operators in nature tourism. This research has important implications for better understanding how visitors construct their perceptions of authenticity of wildlife and the implications for the ways in which wildlife tourism experiences and authenticity narratives are constructed in Anthropocene tourism. SAGE Publications 2022-10-27 2022-12 /pmc/articles/PMC9684654/ /pubmed/36440384 http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/14687976221131894 Text en © The Author(s) 2022 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage). |
spellingShingle | Articles Bueddefeld, Jill NH Erickson, Bruce Wild bears, real bears and zoo bears: Authenticity and nature in Anthropocene tourism |
title | Wild bears, real bears and zoo bears: Authenticity and nature in
Anthropocene tourism |
title_full | Wild bears, real bears and zoo bears: Authenticity and nature in
Anthropocene tourism |
title_fullStr | Wild bears, real bears and zoo bears: Authenticity and nature in
Anthropocene tourism |
title_full_unstemmed | Wild bears, real bears and zoo bears: Authenticity and nature in
Anthropocene tourism |
title_short | Wild bears, real bears and zoo bears: Authenticity and nature in
Anthropocene tourism |
title_sort | wild bears, real bears and zoo bears: authenticity and nature in
anthropocene tourism |
topic | Articles |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9684654/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36440384 http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/14687976221131894 |
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